Now that spring has started, you are likely more inclined to put on your sneakers and seek the happy feelings associated with a good workout. You are hoping that a short, hard work will be able to translate into an improve mental state during the run. However, not always does it provide you with the same ecstatic feelings. But what factors impact the experience and how can you better prepare to get the best high? And how long does a runner’s high last?
The typical length of the “Runner’s high” for most experienced runners tends to be around 10-20 minutes. The positive mental effects of your run, however, may last for up to hours following. The true length of the runner’s high experience depends on a variety of factors. Besides your workout quality, enjoyment, as well as the intensity of exercise, other pillars of health such as sleep, stress management and proper nutrition plays a significant role. By providing your body with the proper preparation, as well as recovery, you are able to extend the runner’s high and the mental benefits of exercise significantly.
Introduction
It seems abundantly clear that Mother Nature wants us to move. What else is the reason for being rewarded with the ecstatic feelings of the runner’s high, and all other mental benefits that exercise has to offer?
Being a personal coach, physiotherapist and my previous research and experience with movement, I feel that it is my mission to teach others about the amazing mental and physical benefits of exercise. Therefore, I continuously attempt to improve and further build on my frameworks. I do this to help create a better mental experience from my personal workouts, as well as those of my clients.
I frequently ask myself what strategies I can implement to prolong and intensify the runner’s high experience. Is it possible to prolong the runner’s high further than the typical 10-20 minutes until it slowly fades away? What if we can prolong it by just a little bit more? How do you think it would affect your running experience, the rest of your day, and even days the days to follow?
Evolution of the Runner’s High
Before we go into how we can make the most of our experience, let us go back millions of years ago. We need to step back in time to the Hunter and Gathers era and take a look at how we evolved into the people we are today. That history is still very pertinent to modern humans, particularly when it comes to how our bodies, minds, and emotions function.
Current evidence suggests that the hunters and gatherers era began some two to three million years ago among the early hominins in East and South Africa. Instead of scavenging meat left behind by other predators, hunters and gatherers actively tracked down and slaughtered animals for food. They also created inventive methods of storing vegetation for later consumption, demonstrating the ability to plan ahead.
The hunting and gathering lifestyle persisted for millions of years. In fact, only up until roughly 11,000–12,000 years ago (the dawn of the age of agriculture), we walked twelve to fifteen kilometres each day.
Throughout this time, we were subjected to the forces of evolution. Our already complex brains grew larger and more powerful, as they were continuously rewired and “upgraded” to come up with the creative solutions to overcome the never-rending series of challenges life presented..
The Persistence High
But how did we evolve to be rewarded with the cocktail of happy hormones associated with the runner’s high? The answer is because of the effects of the Persistence High. The Persistence High is a term introduced by author Kelly McGonigal. In her book The Joy of Movement, she explains that the terms refers to the internal reward that is derived for staying persistently engaged in an activity benefitting our survival.
From an evolutionary perspective, the Persistence High pushed our ancestors when the going got tough, and helped motivate them to keep searching for prey, even when things seemed hopeless. It helped us to stay focused, alert, and optimistic when running away from predators that were looking out to get us. And it helped us to continue working to finish building a shelter before nightfall to keep our families safe and warm.
This triggered the unique reward system that continuous cardiovascular exercise appears to be able to produce. If you want to learn more about the Persistence High and its powerful effects, check out this article.
Typical Length of a Runner’s High
So, how long does a runner’s high last? Well, the positive short-term effects of exercise that you can achieve with a mere 15 minutes of exercise. It does not matter what type of exercise is, all that matters is that you sustain a sufficient challenge to your body. The more that you can challenge ourselves (without going into states of exhaustion), the greater the beneficial effects.
When it comes to the Runner’s high and the ecstatic feeling associated with it, you should aim to perform cardiovascular activity lasting at least 30 minutes or more. You should spend the first quarter of our workout getting our body warmed up, the second and third quarter to provide our body with a significant challenge (moderate – hard intensity on a standardized Borg scale) and the last quarter with a mixture of light – vigorous activity.
I have found that by following this format, we can expect the experience the runner’s high for a total duration of about 10-20 minutes, depending on the length of the run. It may surprise you to find out that you are able to achieve this through cardiovascular as well as strength workouts. To find out how, you should have a look at my free book “Exercise High”
As eluded to before, more is not always better. While you should provide your body with a sufficient challenge to stimulate your natural reward circuits, try not to excessively fatigue yourself. It is when we reach that sweet spot that we experience the feelings associated with the runner’s high. More about steps to recreate the runner’s high below.
Workouts that Generate a Runner’s High
You can recreate the runner’s high in various ways. As long as you are able to maintain a moderate – hard intensity throughout most of your workout, you will likely be rewarded with a euphoric state of mind.
Whether it is a long run, high-intensity interval training, strength training, or other workout methods, you will be able to reap the feel-good effects. Depending on your genetic build, previous experience, as well as what you enjoy most, you will react differently to different ways of exercise. If you are not sure what works best for you, try it out for yourself.
Cardiovascular Training
Cardiovascular, or aerobic exercise at sufficient intensity (85%-100%) has been shown to increase circulating endorphin levels. Often times by up to 3x than other methods of exercise, with higher levels reported in the 100% intensity groups compared to the 85% intensity groups (source). The higher the intensity of your aerobic training, the greater the endorphin-release response. High volume, low intensity cardiovascular training did not show any significant increases in circulating endorphin levels.
Strength Training
When examining the relationship between strength training and level of endorphin-production, research shows that strength training with rest periods of below one minute, as well as training sessions with high amounts of total work positively influences your body’s endorphin response (source).
A further area of interest in terms of its potential of creating feelings of euphoria is isometric strength training. Isometric training refers to a rather static form of training, where your muscles are engaged while your limbs stay in the same position (for example: exercises such as a wall sit or plank). This type of exercise has shown to be effective in producing exercise-induced euphoria, as well as in reducing pain levels in injured limbs.
In summary, strength training programs that allow your muscles to work at high intensity, high total work, as well as include isometric exercises are favourable when it comes to the production of endorphins. Despite the existence of some promising research articles that analyze the relationship between strength training and endorphin-production, many articles conclude by saying that more research is needed to more accurately predict the endorphin-release effects of strength training.
The Four Pillars of Health
Has your doctor ever advised you to exercise more, eat healthier, reduce your stress levels, or go to bed earlier? If so, then you are not alone. Exercise, good nutrition, relaxation, and sleep are widely regarded as essential components of healthy living by medical experts. In fact, in my practice I refer to them As previously noted, we consider them as our four pillars of health.
They are what primarily control our perceived level of health and well-being and create the perfect foundation for experiencing deeper levels of joy and happiness. By taking care of our pillars of health, you not only improve your overall health, but also create the ideal foundation for the most thrilling experience of the exercise high.
Stress Management
We need to take care of our hormones to create a positive hormonal balance within our body and mind. Our primary stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline can negatively affect our runner’s high experience.
The good news is that physical exercise has a naturally stress-reducing effect on the mind. This is why following exercise, we experience significantly less anxiety and feelings of depression. Try your best to engage in a short stress-reducing activity prior to your workout.
This may include a short, 5 minute meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, creating a to-do list, journaling, or taking a bath. Try out for yourself to see what activity works best for you!
Nutrition
How do you typically feel after having an unhealthy meal? Our nutrition has a significant impact on how we feel, act and think. Try to avoid processed foods, sugar and foods high in saturated fats and you are off to a very good start.
The healthiest and most beneficial diet when it comes to the production of the runner’s high is the whole-food diet. We need to recreate the ways our ancestors lived to be rewarded with those euphoric feelings during and following exercise. If you want to find out more specific advise, check out my article on the Dopamine Diet or read my free book!
Good post-workout foods and drinks to boost the amount of time of your runner’s high include medium-high glycemic snacks such as fruit, electrolyte-rich water, and chocolate milk.
Sleep
Have you gotten your 8 hours of nightly slumber lately? Not getting enough sleep is a big risk factor for many mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression. It can cause you to gain weight, decreases your ability to function, socialize, and impact your ability to workout effectively.
A consistent sleep schedule can balance your hormones and result in the prolonged experience of your runner’s high. Optimize your sleep schedule to create a hormonal baseline that promotes well-being and feelings of happiness.
Other Factors
There are a few more things that we are able to do to prepare for the best possible experience during our next run. Check out some of the primary factors affecting your runner’s high experience below.
Workout Length and Timing
- The Length of Your Workout. Typically, 15-30 minutes are sufficient to bring about a runner’s high experience. However, research has shown that longer workouts can produce greater positive effects. If you have not been satisfied with what you have been getting out of your workouts, prolonging your workout time is a great way to increase your odds for boosting your happiness. Ensure, however, that you do not exhaust yourself. Otherwise, your exercise session will leave you feeling tired and it may have the opposite effect.
- The Timing of Your Workout. Your body responds best to exercise when performed during periods of high focus and energy. Everybody has a period during the day where focus and energy levels spike. This is also known as your biological prime time. To calculate your natural timely sweet spot, check out this article.
Program Design
- Post-Workout Activity. By performing light activity following your workout, you will keep your blood and your happy chemicals flowing through your body. Being social following your workout from the release of serotonin will also enhance the mental benefits of your workout and can
- Enjoyment of Your Chosen Workout Activity. The more you enjoy the type of exercise that you are engaged in, the greater the positive feeling after your workout. Personally, I often get the greatest exercise high from participating in weekly soccer practice.
- Exercise Variety: Incorporating variety into your exercise program has shown to enhance the mental benefits of your workout. By activating and fatiguing different muscle groups in different patterns, you are challenging our body in a new way. This includes changing your exercise order, trying out different sports, or changing other exercise parameters. Your body rewards us by being adaptable to different environments with a flood of endorphins (source).
Benefits of Prolonged Runner’s High
As you likely know very well, there are tons of short-term and long-term effects on body and mind when it comes to exercising. For many of you, it is the primary reason that you exercise. A way to decompress, have a great day, or feel amazing about yourself. Let us look at a few ways that the Runner’s high in particular can benefit us.
- Happiness: General states of happiness and euphoria can occasionally last for up to several hours and up until the next day. This boost in happiness will make your day more enjoyable and boosts other important aspects of your mental health, including confidence, focus, and critical thinking. If performed on a regular basis, this can have drastically positive effects on your mental health. This can help you to minimize feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress.
- Pain: The biochemical substances can change your perception of pain. Happy chemicals that were produced during exercise can block pain receptors and block pain signals.
- Social Activity: The runner’s high evolved so that you stay persistent in the pursue of food (e.g. as you were hunting, searching for food). Researchers have found that these biochemical substances also increase your social skills temporarily. This served the purpose of sharing your finds with the rest of the community. Staying social following your workout can therefore prolong your runner’s high experience.
Conclusion
How long does a runner’s high last? The typical length of a runner’s high is about 10-20 minutes, depending on the length of the workout. You can prolong the experience of the runner’s high by increasing your workout length, adjusting your workout timing, changing up your workout activities, as well as by ensuring to add sufficient intensity to your workout.
Additionally, by taking care of your other three pillars of health (sleep, stress management and nutrition), you will be able to experience runner’s high of greater intensity, be rewarded with prolonged short-term effects following exercise and make your high’s last longer. Regular runner’s high can have significant positive effects on your mental health, pain experience and decision-making, and can lead to overall great health.
Read my book “Exercise High” to find out more about the amazing short-term effects of exercise, how our natural reward circuits evolved. You will also be able to learn about unique and actionable steps to recreate the Runner’s high. What steps will you take to prepare for your next run?